


fall from graceless lips

by n7punk



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/F, Fluff, Gen, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Nicknames, Post-Canon, glitra if you squint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-30
Updated: 2020-06-30
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:35:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25003996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/n7punk/pseuds/n7punk
Summary: It’s a single word, slipping out without Catra even considering it. “Bow-“ Catra begins. She gets cut off by his gasp. “You actually used my name!” he squeals. Catra stares at him in confusion – it really is not a big deal.It takes weeks more of “Sparkles” for someone to ask her about it. Not Glimmer, though. Glimmer knows why Catra does not use her name.Focusing on Catra and her dynamic with the others, especially Glimmer. Side Catradora, Glitra/Glitradora if you squint.
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Catra & Glimmer (She-Ra)
Comments: 14
Kudos: 298





	fall from graceless lips

**Author's Note:**

> This nickname thing is a hc I have & feel strongly about. I had to elaborate on it because a single tumblr post wasn’t going to sum it up.  
> I personally think Catra and Glimmer have a charged connection (like Molly said on the stream, they could have an intense fling), but Adora and Bow are really their soulmates. I also don’t think said soulmates are bothered by it cuz they’re all friends that love each other. I’ve written this from that perspective. There’s also side Catradora just because every time they are in the same room together Catra and Adora get stupid sappy and take over whatever I’m trying to write.

_“Take care of her, Horde Scum.”_

_“That’s the plan, Sparkles.”_

\--

“Run it by Bow first,” Catra orders, winces a little because she is not giving orders anymore, especially not to Entrapta.

“But he isn’t here,” Entrapta all but whines. “Getting approval will slow down the experiment! Scientific progress cannot be halted!” As she speaks, Entrapta gestures wildly with her hair, which would be normal and fine if she were not holding an active blowtorch, soldering iron, and an assortment of other sharp and destructive objects. Catra takes several steps back.

“Before you were building war machines, Entrapta. If someone got hurt, then it was doing its job, just not as intended. That ship is all that is between us and being crushed to death by the void of space,” Catra tries to reason with her. She casts around the cluttered lab, looking for the tracker pad Entrapta had been showing her plans on.

The lab is a mess. Catra and Hordak made sure of that when they had their disagreement. The fight may have laid waste to half the Fright Zone, but it started in this room. The invasion and subsequent battles did not help the room’s state any. But there was important - and potentially dangerous - research left behind. Efforts to dismantle the Fright Zone and build the Scorpion Kingdom back in its place were going well, but Entrapta insisted she needed to personally see to this room before a haphazard crew of workers came through to dismantle it. The result is that an already half-destroyed lab - which was never that organized to begin with - now looks like it had imploded, chaos and destruction radiating towards Entrapta as she pulls apart tech and gathers materials.

Finding a single tracker pad in all the mess is going to be difficult, but this is quite literally a matter of life and death - even if it is not the type of heat-of-the-moment battle Catra is used to. Melog lets out a comforting _mrphh_ , nudging her towards where they had seen the tracker pad last. Entrapta begins to ramble into her recording device, the details of what she is doing completely lost on Catra, as the younger girl does her best to dig through the piles of debris. Melog nudges some pieces of debris out of her way as she works. It takes several minutes of searching - a concerning zap of electricity behind her making her tail stand on end and her grit her teeth, but she concentrates on the task at hand to distract herself - before she finally finds the elusive pad.

Eyeing Entrapta’s set up - she is currently pouring over a screen, the whirring tools momentarily ceased - Catra deems it safe enough to approach and slips behind the other girl as she pokes at the pad’s screen. Screens are still difficult to get to respond to her, but she has learned how to work around her claws on them. She manages to get the call function up. Entrapta startles slightly at the pad ringing right behind her head, apparently having forgotten she was not alone in her mess. To her relief, Bow picks up almost immediately.

“Entrapta, wh- Oh! Catra! What are you doing with Entrapta’s pad?” Bow startles. He is surrounded by a distant cacophony of hammers and yelling, walking through a construction site. It has been about a week since the end of the war – the days tend to blend together – and even if the most building needs to be done in the Fright Zone, there is work to be done in every kingdom, so all of them spend their days scattered between rebuilding projects now.

“Bow, I need you to -” Catra starts, turning the pad towards Entrapta. She is stopped, mid-turn, by Bow gasping. “What?” Catra asks - does not snap, thank you very much, she is _trying_ \- turning the screen back to face her. Over the top of the screen, Entrapta blinks at her owlishly.

“What did you just call me?” Bow asks, eyes wide. Catra stares back at him.

“Bow…?” she responds, unsure. Had their connection dropped? No, clearly not, because Bow full on squeals, the coo he offers whenever she does something he deems “cute.” She is learning that it is not supposed to be demeaning, is not belittling, does not strip her of all her accomplishments, but it still makes her fur bristle a little. Melog stills beside her, waiting for her emotions to settle before butting their head into her leg.

“I’m sorry,” Bow offers, eyes brimming with his excessive happiness. He tucks one fist under his chin, grinning stupidly at her. “It’s just the first time you’ve actually used my name! I’m savouring it. Please, continue.”

Catra sighs, dramatically, but she continues.

“Convince Entrapta to run some tests or, I don’t know, double check _anything_ before she starts messing with Darla again,” Catra instructs, turning the screen back to where Entrapta is still blinking at her. Catra is glad to not have to confront Bow any longer. She can feel her cheeks warm, fur puffed slightly in indignation. Melog’s calm blue mane gives away her lack of frustration, though they are least out of Bow’s line of sight.

She did not make the decision to use, or not use, Bow’s name. He has been Bow in her head for a while now – before she had even joined them, honestly. She does not know why he cares so much - the bitterness that used to accompany his nickname had already faded and the nickname stayed more from force of habit than any real intent. Regardless, she thought the lack of malice has been clear. He does not seem like he was upset over it either, as he sets to work discussing technical specifications with Entrapta, so maybe he had understood and this was just something he was being weird about.

\--

The thing about the nicknames is that they had been entirely unintentional at first. Catra had not acutally known Bow’s or Glimmer’s names at the start of the war. She had been so wrapped up in her pain, hyper focused on Adora in every way, that there was no room for other information – especially information about Adora’s _new friend_ s. Even if she had cared, if there was a way for Catra to know their names she had not found it before they squared off and the casual nicknames slipped off her tongue like taunts. Well, she did know a way, but Shadow Weaver never told her about Force Captain orientation, so she had missed out on that opportunity. To successfully pretend she had just chosen to skip it, Catra could not admit she needed some information from it, so she continued to not know the pink princesses’ name, much less that of her little boytoy, and eventually figured out their roles on her own.

The nicknames had been born of no effort – she didn’t matter to Adora, so her two replacements didn’t matter to her. Catra eventually learned their names, their roles, but by then the nicknames had become a jab that she relished. They had taken Adora from her and so she took their names from them, what little dignity she could claw away guarded jealously close to her heart.

Catra knows better, now, but habits die hard. The nicknames are not important to her like they had once been – she has nothing she is trying to hold over the pair’s head, now, and so it never occurs to her to use them, or not use them, with their initial purpose now stripped away.

Bow slowly becomes Bow, both in her head and on her tongue. Glimmer is Glimmer, or occasionally the queen, but every time Catra opens her mouth, the word “Sparkles” falls from her tongue. Catra never thinks about it, really.

\--

It is not like she is alone in her lack of concern over the nicknames. When she returns to Bright Moon, taking a reclaimed skiff through the Whispering Woods to return home before the sun finishes setting, Glimmer affectionately acknowledges her as “Horde Scum,” nodding as they run into each other on their way to dinner.

“Queen Sparkles,” Catra nods back, smiling a little.

“Bow told me you had to call in reinforcements on Entrapta. Dismantling the lab go okay?” Glimmer asks, pausing outside the entrance to the dining room. The tall doors are flung open. Inside, King Micah is telling a story that involves gesturing with gusto. Bow is laughing and Adora is watching with an excited spark in her eye. Perfuma is giggling behind her hand – she tends to stay overnight at the castle so she and Catra can meditate in the morning together and join Scorpia in the Fright Zone after breakfast.

Catra smiles at the scene before her. Perfuma has assured her it is not abnormal for such massive changes to take time to sink in, but Catra still struggles to believe this her life now – that she really gets to have all of this.

“It is hard work,” Catra acknowledges. She usually spends most of her day in the Fright Zone, the only way she feels she can fix things being to destroy everything she built with her own two hands, and the labour is as hard as the war had been. There are just as many logistics, if not more, as they try to identify the resources they have, the ones they can repurpose, and the ones they need to rely on aid from the other kingdoms for, but it is all worth it when she sees Scorpia laugh at a joke she tells as they work, or she makes her way home to find moments like this awaiting her. “I just needed another voice of reason. He talked her into running some tests before she tinkers with Darla again,” Catra explained, shrugging, as she tears her eyes away from the dining room to meet Glimmer’s eyes.

“Good. I’m glad,” is all Glimmer offers in response, reaching out slowly, her palm open and up. Catra blinks slowly down at her hand.

This is a line they had drawn just this morning. Scorpia had been staying at the castle, too, until there was spare housing available in the Fright Zone. She had joined Catra and Perfuma at their morning meditation, knowing she would be waking up in the Fright Zone, likely alone, for the foreseeable future and would not get a chance again for a while. Catra found being vulnerable hard enough, but when Scorpia had seen her tensing in response to one of Perfuma’s prompts, she had tried to lay a reassuring claw on Catra’s shoulder. Catra had practically flung herself across the garden, hissing as she skittered away from the touch, Melog’s mane spiking red. It had taken several minutes for Catra to steady herself enough to admit her true feelings about the moment – the conflict that had been brewing inside of her, maybe for years. Perfuma had made a suggestion, and when they all entered the breakfast hall afterwards, she had nudged Catra to stand and face the table.

“Speak your truth,” she had assured her. Catra had been nervous, embarrassed, gripping an arm around herself like a shield. Adora had reached up to hold her hand, expression drawn tight in concern, and it finally spurred Catra to speak.

“I don’t want to be scared of you, any of you. And I don’t want to hurt you anymore. But for a long time, a person touching me usually meant pain. Usually anyone but Adora only touched me to land a hit, so I’m asking-“ Catra started.

“Firmer,” Perfuma cut in, gently. Catra flicked an ear in her direction to acknowledge her.

“I do not wish to be touched without being warned. I don’t – I’m not opposed to being touched, or hugged, or any of that. I just need you to warn me before you do, so I can shut off that instinct that says I need to fight back,” she managed, staring down at her plate. By her side, Adora squeezed her hand tight.

She knows Adora understood – both where she was coming from, and that she was a bit of an exception to the rule – and Scorpia had whole-heartedly agreed with the boundary when they came up with it in the garden. Scorpia had immediately gasped and gushed guiltily about every hug she had given Catra over the years, forcing Catra to explain that yes, she had liked them, but that did not mean she had not feared them, for more reasons than just the physical. Touch left her open to attack, physical and emotional.

The others at the table had assured her they understood at the time, but it is different to see Glimmer actually act on her request. Cautiously, Catra reaches out and takes the hand offered to her. Glimmer squeezes her hand, briefly and gently, and then drops it with a smile and turns towards the dining room. Catra follows behind her in a bit of a daze.

Things truly have changed.

\--

But not everything has. “Why is Sparkles here?” Catra asks, shoulders tensing a little bit, defensive. She sees a flash of hurt on Glimmer’s face and quickly looks away from the other girl. Catra knows she does not really have a right to protest her presence anyway – Scorpia has come to their morning meditations a few times, as has Adora, and even Bow sat in yesterday. But it is just different with Glimmer – raw in a way it is not with Bow, and lacking the years of history she has with Adora and Scorpia. They were friends before – it made it easier to be vulnerable when they had already seen her at her worst. With Glimmer, Catra had used that worst to cause her nothing but pain until very recently.

“I wanted to see if this would help me, too, Catra,” Glimmer replies, diplomatic. Likely bullshit. She is sitting cross-legged in the same guest spot Scorpia used to occupy. Catra winces, because she has no right to rob Glimmer of the healing she has been working on achieving herself. Catra shifts her weight on the grass, realizing the ground beneath her represents another point in the queen’s favour – these are _her_ gardens they are standing in, after all.

“Catra, do you want to talk about why you asked that question?” Perfuma offers, surprisingly diplomatic herself. She does not ask why Catra does not want Glimmer here, even though that is clearly the root of the problem. She offers an out to Catra, which might be the first time since they started these sessions. Often the whole point is confronting her underlying issues. Clearly, Perfuma wants Glimmer to stay. Although it could also be Melog slowly bristling from where they peek out from behind Catra’s legs. Catra tries to smooth down her ruffles, ignoring the itching of her hackles. She takes a deep breath and forces herself to sit beside Glimmer, settling into her usual stance mirroring Perfuma. Slowly, Melog settles behind her, mane warbling uncertainly around their neck, but no longer shifting colours.

“Because we discuss things I’m not ready to talk about with her yet,” Catra responds to the root of the matter, eyes closed as she breathes in and out, not willing to see Glimmer’s reaction to that. She feels the queen shift beside her. It is silent for several long moments. In and out.

The breeze ruffles her fur. In and out.

“Catra?” Glimmer finally breaks the silence. Reluctantly, Catra peaks one eye open to steal a glance at the other girl. She has her hand reached out again, hovering a few inches above Catra’s knee. She had been waiting for Catra to see the impending touch before moving forward. Even now that Catra sees her and braces herself, Glimmer does not move, waiting.

Catra grumbles to herself, moves her trail to wrap it around Glimmer’s wrist before twining it across Glimmer’s fingers. Glimmer smiles, bright and relieved, squeezing her tail slightly as she pulls it away to thump it slowly against the grass. They both settle back into their original meditation positions.

“We can go as slow as we need,” Perfuma assures, straightening her back and breathing in deeply. The session begins.

\--

“There you are!” Bow exclaims, voice tinged with worry, as Catra slinks into the breakfast hall beside Glimmer. Glimmer smiles brightly at him, walking around the table to give him a quick hug before she settles into her seat beside him.

“Relax, Bow. Sparkles and I were just in the garden. You could have looked out of any window if you thought we were missing,” Catra points out, rolling her eyes as she takes her seat next to Adora. Not that he does not have reason to worry – their session had run late into breakfast, Perfuma had gone ahead to give them some privacy, and Catra is well aware the fur on her cheeks is still a touch damp. It is not the first time she has come to breakfast with a trace of tears still present from their sessions, but it is the first time those sessions have involved Glimmer. Still, Melog is calm and blue trailing behind her.

Catra shakes her head, dismissing the thoughts, and crosses the gap between her and Adora, squeezing the other girl’s hand as she gives her a smile. “Hey, Adora,” Catra purrs, just a little. A good morning and an ‘I love you’ wrapped in one.

They had gone slow. They had not gone all the way back to the real thing Catra is not ready to talk about yet – the title of queen, who it used to belong to, why it does not anymore. _Her fault, her fault, her fault_. They are making progress, but it takes time. Still, Catra had acknowledged something important, a roundabout thank you that had been pressing against her chest.

“I know I would not be here without Adora, but I don’t think I would be here without you either,” Catra had murmured, near the end of the meditation.

“We all worked to save you, Catra. And you saved me first,” Glimmer started, but Catra just shook her head.

“No, you saved me before that. Back on Etheria,” Catra finally acknowledged. She looked up to see Perfuma leaning forward excitedly – she always got this over-brimming energy when she sensed a breakthrough was coming – and Glimmer blinked at her in confusion.

“When you used the Heart of Etheria,” Glimmer winced, but Catra had pushed on, “it was a mistake. And you tried to fix it. The whole reason I ended up on Prime’s ship with you is – you shocked me. You realized the Heart could destroy everything, so you pushed yourself to reach the Black Garnet. I’d never – never seen anyone do that. Try to actually undo a great mistake like that. And even if it was Adora breaking the sword that actually stopped it, I stood there watching you try. It showed me it might not too late for – for me.”

Catra was crying, a little, by the time she finished. Glimmer had let out a breath that had sounded suspiciously like an almost-pitying “Oh, baby” and leaned forward into Catra’s space, remembering to halt herself just before she wrapped her arms around Catra. Catra had nodded, lamely, as the other girl stared at her with an obvious need to comfort, and they had held each other for a long moment.

The end of the session was spent trying to get their breathing back to normal, evening out their spiking emotions. Perfuma had quietly excused herself to give them a moment, but all they did was sit together, before gently nudging at each other with their elbows.

“Breakfast, Horde Scum?” Glimmer asked.

“Sure thing, Sparkles.”

\--

Adora is starting at her as she pets Melog – slowly, like her thoughts are making it difficult for her to even move. Her cheeks are puffed up a little, the effort of holding in her thoughts requiring a physical barrier, so Catra just waits. She knows Adora can never hold out long, and both of them are making an active effort to speak their minds now. She does not know what Adora is fighting so hard to hold in, but she calmly continues her morning stretches and waits.

Perfuma had asked her to engage in morning mediation even when they could not meet, but it was hard enough to do during their sessions together in the garden, and a compromise had to be made for her sole morning routine. Perfuma was overnight in her own kingdom, for once, in preparation for spending the next few days focusing her time on helping to regrow the Fright Zone. She had been splitting so much time between her own kingdom and all the others that needed her help post-war already that she needed to take some time for her home. Catra understood, and had promised her she would take some steps to continue their morning routine.

The stretches are calming, good enough for her body that she can justify taking time out of her day for them, and a good opportunity to work through her thoughts and “affirmations.” Okay, she is still working on that last part, but it was starting to work, she can tell.

Today, however, Adora is thinking a little too loudly for Catra to concentrate on her own thoughts. Sighing, she drops her stance. “Yes, Adora?” she asks, exasperated and fond. She turns to find Adora looking caught, like she had not been completely obvious in her internal struggle, hand stilled on Melog’s head. She is sitting cross-legged, only a few feet away from where Catra stands on the balcony, entire body leaning towards the other girl.

“It’s stupid,” Adora dismisses, forcing herself to lean back.

“It’s bothering you,” Catra counters. Adora glares at her in response. There is no heat in it, but Adora hates having her own words turned on her. She has said that phrase at least a dozen times in the last few weeks to Catra, when despite everything telling her it is okay now Catra has not been able to force herself to speak her feelings. Catra has never been above a low blow, so she smiles at Adora’s indignation.

“Sparkles,” Adora rushes out, with no explanation provided. Catra just stares back at her blankly. Adora huffs, shuffles over to where Catra is standing, leaving Melog to coo quietly at the loss of affection, and reaches for her hand. Catra watches her approach, and it only takes a light tug for Catra to follow her down to her seated position on the floor, settling into her arms. Adora always wants to be touching Catra when they have these kinds of talks – something about comfort and replacing the bad connotations of touch – and when it is Adora touching her, Catra does not mind. Revels in it, truthfully.

“You still call Glimmer Sparkles,” Adora elaborates, voice bordering on petulant. She does not want to be speaking these words, clearly.

“… Yes?” Catra questions, waiting for the point.

“I told you it was stupid,” Adora finishes, huffing, staring down at their intertwined hands.

“It’s not – Adora, I’m not dismissing it. I don’t know what the question _is_ yet,” Catra questions. She leans her head back onto Adora’s shoulder, having to cross her eyes to look at her from this angle. Adora meets her eyes and Catra sees her give in.

“You call Bow by his name now, but you still call Glimmer Sparkles. It’s not important, actually, but it _could_ be depending on the reason why, so I just- wanted to make sure you two were okay,” she rushes out, squeezing the arm she has wrapped around Catra’s waist like she is afraid she will run. Maybe she is, even if it is unconscious. Catra has spent most of their lives running from talks this.

Catra hums to herself and to Adora - their unspoken acknowledgement that they have heard the other and are working on putting together an actual response. A technique from Bow, actually, but one that they have taken to whole-heartedly. Increasing communication, it turns out, means speaking less so when they do talk, they say the things they actually want to. Adora still tends to speak in a nervous flood, but their responses to each other are more considerate, and it helps Catra not to deflect or snap at anything she is uncomfortable with.

Catra tries to find the words for it, but everything keeps coming back to one thought. It is not a secret, except for how she has never told anyone, and now the door is open her mind cannot fall on anything else.

“I didn’t know,” she mumbles, tucking her chin in a little as if it will silence the words in her throat.

“What?” Adora asks, straining forward to catch Catra’s words. Her body is still tensed with worry.

“I didn’t decide to give them nicknames. I just didn’t know what their names actually were,” Catra admits, cheeks flushed. Finally, the anxiety drains from Adora’s body as she laughs. It is as much in relief as it is directed at Catra, and Catra chuckles along with her. It is ridiculous, she knows. Besides, Adora’s laugh is a sound she never wants to lose again. She revels in it whenever it washes over her.

“So, they really are just nicknames,” Adora finally understands, tightening her grip on the smaller girl in a fond hug. Not jabs – not insults meant to belittle. She may have used them that way once, but that is never what they really were, and certainly not what they eventually became.

“Yeah,” Catra breathes, staring up at Adora’s smile with wide eyes.

“But why use Bow’s name now and not Glimmer’s?” Adora asks, frowning in confusion now rather than anxiety now.

“Glimmer’s different?” Catra offers. Adora blinks down at her. Catra huffs, then hums as she considers it.

“The nickname – it was something familiar we said to each other on Prime’s ship. A bit of routine in the middle of disaster. Now it is just – a reminder of how far we have come. And that we have a bond now,” Catra breathes, half-realizing the truth at the same time as she speaks it. “It’s affectionate.”

Adora squeals, just a little, cuddling Catra closer in her joy. Behind them, Catra hears Melog voicing a purr for her. Catra lets herself curl into Adora’s arms, relishing in the realization that yes, she is bonding with the other people that are in her life now, too. And further, that she feels that bond is returned – that Glimmer understands why she uses the moniker just as well, and returns it in kind. She finally has a home that is not just a person, just Adora – it is a place, because that place is full of all the people who are home to her. And between Bright Moon and the Fright Zone and maybe even Plumeria – maybe even the other kingdoms one day – that home is Etheria, in all its glory.

\--

It is exactly a year to the day of Horde Prime’s defeat.

The name is not used every time, now. In fact, it might be more often than not that Glimmer’s true name crosses her lips instead of the nickname. But if there was ever a time to use her actual name - and full title, for that matter - it is now. Catra drops into a short bow before Glimmer as she enters the first annual celebration ball, suppressing a giggle as Adora curtsies somewhat clumsily.

“Welcome to the party,” Glimmer greets them both fondly, before a spark lights in her eyes and she adds, nodding to Catra, “Horde Scum.”

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world, Sparkles,” Catra responds, smirking back at the hostess. They part with a wave, Catra and Adora joining the rest of their friends near the side of the ballroom as Glimmer finishes greeting the other guests. Adora elbows her at the break in protocol, and Catra, with no lack of petulance, shoots back “She started it!”

**Author's Note:**

> There's a really great meta post somewhere on tumblr about how Glimmer is pivotal to Catra's redemption arc because the only real example Catra has had to follow all her life has been Shadow Weaver, so when she sees Glimmer try to actually fix a mistake she has made it created a precedent that Catra never had before. I tried to find it to link it for this post, but there is so much She-ra on my blog I lost it. It really made me think about how Glimmer is important to Catra's redemption just like Adora is, so I had to add that in when I started exploring this fic idea, because it really does help grow their relationship going forward I feel.  
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
